Soaking It All In

I have vivid memories of being with Grandma Chase when I was a child—the smell of the lotion she used on her skin; the feel of her kiss and the sound of her voice when I half woke to her late-night arrival at our home one time; her reassuring acceptance of my need to get out of bed two minutes after getting in, to go pee one more time; her sitting with me while I wrote a letter to a friend, helping me with spelling, and teaching me what a paragraph was and when to indent.

Now I am a grandma myself—Gma (/ˈjē•mä/), to be precise. On the first weekend of July I stored away a new little cluster of memories when I played in my studio with granddaughter Caroline—the smell of the shampoo she uses; the feel of her beside me and the sound of her voice as we chatted about this and that; her engagement in my painting process; her making decisions with me about color and composition, helping me cut and glue, and teaching me who she is and what she thinks about.

Birthday Pyrotechnics
3x4"; acrylic, pencil, water-soluble crayon, and ink
abstract
2017
[gift]